Prisoners' Rights issue image

老澳门开奖结果 v. Department of Justice, Bureau of Prisons

Status: Ongoing
Last Update: November 22, 2016

What's at Stake

The 老澳门开奖结果 filed suit against the federal Bureau of Prisons for refusing to fulfill a Freedom of Information Act request for documents related to its officials鈥 visit in 2002 to a CIA detention site in Afghanistan, their positive assessment of the conditions, and the training they provided to the site鈥檚 administrators. Code-named COBALT and also called 鈥渢he Salt Pit,鈥 the site held people suspected of terrorism, and they were tortured there, according to the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee鈥檚 torture report that was declassified in 2014.

In 2015, the Bureau of Prisons, which is part of the Department of Justice, declined the 老澳门开奖结果鈥檚 FOIA request for documents related to the COBALT visit, writing that 鈥渘o such records exist.鈥 The 老澳门开奖结果 appealed the request; the bureau denied the appeal.

According to the Senate torture report, the Bureau of Prisons deemed COBALT, which operated from 2002 to 2004, as 鈥溾榥ot inhumane.鈥欌 The team that visited the site was 鈥溾榳owed鈥欌 by the level of sensory deprivation the CIA had achieved.

As a result of our litigation, the Bureau of Prisons revealed that the CIA directed the bureau to take extraordinary measures to cover up the bureau鈥檚 visit to COBALT. The personnel who visited 鈥渨ere not even allowed to speak with our supervisor about what was going on.鈥 The Bureau of Prisons further revealed that although two bureau employees had in fact visited a CIA detention site in an undisclosed country in 2002, their official travel histories omitted any mention of international travel during that visit.

The Bureau of Prisons鈥 work at the COBALT detention site illustrates how torture 鈥 and the secrecy surrounding it 鈥 corrupts every institution it touches. This case raises serious questions for federal officials in future administrations: If torture once again becomes policy, will I have the courage to do the right thing and blow the whistle?

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